Iraq III: How To Get Your War Covered On TV

My buddy Will Bunch at Attytood is at his best when he's angry, hence this trenchant post (scroll down a ways, please) in which he provides tips on how to get your war covered on television.

Money quote:

Whatever else you do, if you want news coverage, don’t insist that journalists be “embedded” with military units. Oddly enough, the embedding process has been hailed by members of the media -- even as it has limited the number of reporters, their free movement, and the scope of coverage. Anyone notice how much news is coming from Lebanon, where there is no embedding?

A corollary: Don’t make the mistakes that Americans have done in Iraq -- and let the country become so unsafe that journalists can’t move about freely without a military escort. That has really limited news coverage -- we bet Bush and Dick Cheney just hate that!

There’s a lot more, but these six simple steps are a good start. Who knows, maybe the combatants in Iraq can do a successful “re-branding,” although we suggest they take the advice of Andy Card, who knows a thing or two about marketing a war, and wait until September.

It’s ironic, isn’t it? Every day, in addition to the unconscionable killing of thousands of civilians, an average of two or three Americans diesover in Iraq -- decent, young, working class men and woman from small rural towns and hardscrabble urban neighborhoods. It’s sad, it’s tragic, and you would think the American media would be all over a story like that.

Maybe we are just dummies, after all.